1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article dispensing apparatus for taking out articles such as candies, which are stored in a stack in a case body, in an order from the top one.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a conventional article dispensing apparatus for taking out articles in an order from the top one in a stack stored in a case body such as the one disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 6-92379. An article dispensing apparatus disclosed in that application has a case body for storing flat articles such as chewing gum stacked in the vertical direction and is provided in the upper part of the case body with a dispensing device for pushing the stored articles one by one in an order from the top one so that the articles can be taken out. A sliding member is provided in the dispensing device for engaging the top article among a plurality of articles biased by an elastic member and making the article protrude from a front opening.
The conventional article dispensing apparatus as described above has a problem in that it simply slides the top article and cannot separate an article one by one from other articles to dispense it. The apparatus is made so that articles stored in a stack within the case body can be pushed by the sliding member of the apparatus and taken out one by one from the top one.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above drawbacks and it is an object of the present invention to provide an article dispensing apparatus with a novel structure, which can lift an article, such as a candy stored in a stack within a case body, one by one from the top one and dispense it.
In order to attain the above and other objects, an article dispensing apparatus in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention comprises:
(a) a case body for storing articles in a vertical stack;
(b) a dispensing opening formed in the upper part of the case body for taking out the stored articles one by one in an order from the top one, and an elastic member provided in the lower part of the case body for biasing the stored articles to the dispensing opening;
(c) a pair of engaging members provided in the vicinity of the dispensing opening of the case body for engaging both sides of the top article among a plurality of articles biased by the elastic member to prevent the plurality of articles from jumping out from the dispensing opening; and
(d) a rotating body rotatably provided in the upper part of the case body, and a pair of holding pieces provided in the rotating body for holding the both sides of the top article among the plurality of articles while releasing the engagement of the pair of engaging members.